From Memios
The Longevity Letter
Practical writing and video on living strong and active into your 90s. No hype, no supplements to sell. Just what the evidence supports and what it looks like on an ordinary Tuesday.
579 items
SupplementsBilberry
The best-known claim, better night vision, is not supported: a systematic review found the four most recent randomised trials negative, and positive results came from weaker studies.
2026-09-29 · 11 min read
SupplementsBitter melon
Disputed. Bitter melon is taken chiefly for blood sugar, and the pooled evidence is split.
2026-09-29 · 19 min read
SupplementsBitter orange
Disputed. It is sold to raise metabolic rate, help weight loss and boost exercise performance.
2026-09-29 · 17 min read
SupplementsBlack cohosh
Black cohosh is taken for menopausal symptoms, and the literature on whether it works genuinely disagrees with itself.
2026-09-29 · 15 min read
SupplementsBlack pepper extract and piperine
Piperine does raise blood levels of other substances: in one small human study it raised curcumin absorption about 20-fold.
2026-09-29 · 9 min read
SupplementsBlack seed
This is the best-studied of the three, and the picture is large reported effects sitting on weak foundations.
2026-09-29 · 15 min read
SupplementsBoron
Limited evidence. Boron is promoted for bones, joints and testosterone.
2026-09-29 · 8 min read
ResearchHow bowel preparation for colonoscopy changes the gut microbiome, and how fast it recovers
In healthy adults, bowel prep causes an immediate large drop in bacterial load (31-fold in Jalanka 2015) and changes composition.
2026-09-29 · 7 min read
SupplementsBromelain
Limited evidence. The evidence is limited.
2026-09-29 · 8 min read
MedicationsBupropion
Reviews find bupropion works better than placebo for depression and about as well as other antidepressants in head-to-head trials.
2026-09-29 · 14 min read
SupplementsBurdock root
Limited evidence. It is sold as a detox or 'blood purifier' tea and for skin, joints and blood sugar.
2026-09-29 · 8 min read
MedicationsBuspirone
A Cochrane review of 36 trials in 5,908 people found azapirones including buspirone better than placebo for generalised anxiety disorder, with a number needed to treat of 4.4 on the Clinical Global Impression scale.
2026-09-29 · 19 min read
SupplementsButterbur
Disputed. The evidence is narrow and contested.
2026-09-29 · 18 min read
SupplementsCaffeine
The evidence is strongest for the things caffeine does acutely: it raises alertness, and added to a standard painkiller it gives a small extra amount of pain relief with high-certainty evidence from Cochrane.
2026-09-29 · 22 min read
SupplementsCalcium
Supplements raise bone density slightly and, in pooled trials, cut total fractures by about a tenth.
2026-09-29 · 13 min read
MedicationsCarvedilol
Well established. It slows the heart and relaxes blood vessels by blocking adrenaline's effects.
2026-09-29 · 12 min read
MedicationsCelecoxib
Celecoxib relieves pain and inflammation, and the size of that relief is modest and measurable.
2026-09-29 · 20 min read
MedicationsCephalexin
For the infections it is licensed for, the trial evidence is reasonably good but narrower than the label suggests.
2026-09-29 · 23 min read
MedicationsCetirizine hydrochloride
For allergic rhinitis, network meta-analysis of randomised trials shows oral antihistamines as a class beat placebo on symptom scores, with cetirizine among the more effective agents but not the top-ranked one.
2026-09-29 · 14 min read
SupplementsChlorella
The human evidence is a set of small, mostly short randomized trials pooled in meta-analyses.
2026-09-29 · 10 min read
MedicationsCholecalciferol
Correcting deficiency is where the evidence is solid: vitamin D sufficiency prevents rickets in children and osteomalacia in adults.
2026-09-29 · 29 min read
SupplementsChondroitin sulfate
Disputed. The evidence is disputed.
2026-09-29 · 15 min read
SupplementsChromium
Disputed. The evidence is weak and contested.
2026-09-29 · 11 min read
SupplementsCinnamon
Disputed. The evidence is disputed rather than settled.
2026-09-29 · 16 min read